When I think about high school I cringe, just a little. I really didn't have the 'the time of my life' and I really didn't care to put my best effort forward, as all teachers would ask us to. I skimmed by with Cs, and honestly, I don't even know how I got into college. They must have known that I'd shape up come freshman/sophomore year of college.
In high school I had a small group of friends, some of us were great in school and the other of us really didn't care to participate. Let me paint a picture of what high school was like in Newport, RI. Rogers High School was small, about 177 students in my class. Our teachers didn't really care about the curriculum, so naturally neither did we. Physical education class was kind of a joke. Our options were walking the track, playing ping-pong or, lifting weights (also known as, sitting up in the weight room and when the gym teacher looked at you, you lifted your 5 lb. weight). My high school was a low performing school with about 69 percent of the students receiving reduced/free lunch. We didn't have any art work on the walls and we just all seemed pretty bored with school and learning.
Now that I've painted a negative image, I'll give you the one positive note of my entire high school experience. I played the violin all through my schooling. It was kind of my outlet. I had an orchestra teacher, Mr. Bernstein who really loved music. He was incredibly dorky, fun and just had a passion for teaching and sharing his love of music. Orchestra class was the best time of day, it was always right after lunch and lasted until school was over. We would put on holiday concerts, in school concerts, spring concerts and attended fun workshops. Mr. Bernstein didn't care that his violins or cellos would break ten times a year and he didn't care that the music room sometimes flooded, but he showed me that if you love something, you just keep trucking through. I can still remember his conductor hands flying through the air and I'd look around the room and see that some students wouldn't even be looking at where their fingers were placed and others would be fumbling through sheets of music, trying to find the correct booklet or page we were working with. To me, this was learning. I saw a teacher in front of me share his gift with us and even though many of us weren't perfect at it, he still encouraged us to always try out for All State or to just keep playing.
Last year Mr. Bernstein won the RI Teacher of The Year Award. He definitely deserved it in my eyes.
In high school I had a small group of friends, some of us were great in school and the other of us really didn't care to participate. Let me paint a picture of what high school was like in Newport, RI. Rogers High School was small, about 177 students in my class. Our teachers didn't really care about the curriculum, so naturally neither did we. Physical education class was kind of a joke. Our options were walking the track, playing ping-pong or, lifting weights (also known as, sitting up in the weight room and when the gym teacher looked at you, you lifted your 5 lb. weight). My high school was a low performing school with about 69 percent of the students receiving reduced/free lunch. We didn't have any art work on the walls and we just all seemed pretty bored with school and learning.
Now that I've painted a negative image, I'll give you the one positive note of my entire high school experience. I played the violin all through my schooling. It was kind of my outlet. I had an orchestra teacher, Mr. Bernstein who really loved music. He was incredibly dorky, fun and just had a passion for teaching and sharing his love of music. Orchestra class was the best time of day, it was always right after lunch and lasted until school was over. We would put on holiday concerts, in school concerts, spring concerts and attended fun workshops. Mr. Bernstein didn't care that his violins or cellos would break ten times a year and he didn't care that the music room sometimes flooded, but he showed me that if you love something, you just keep trucking through. I can still remember his conductor hands flying through the air and I'd look around the room and see that some students wouldn't even be looking at where their fingers were placed and others would be fumbling through sheets of music, trying to find the correct booklet or page we were working with. To me, this was learning. I saw a teacher in front of me share his gift with us and even though many of us weren't perfect at it, he still encouraged us to always try out for All State or to just keep playing.
Last year Mr. Bernstein won the RI Teacher of The Year Award. He definitely deserved it in my eyes.
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